Johnny Depp's "Rango," Anne Hathaway's "Rio," Antonio Banderas' "Puss in Boots" and Steven Spielberg's "The Adventures of Tintin" are among films competing for best-animated film at the Annie Awards.

The 10 nominees announced Monday also include James McAvoy's "Arthur Christmas," Owen Wilson's "Cars 2," Jack Black's "Kung Fu Panda 2" and three overseas contenders: "A Cat in Paris," ''Arrugas" and "Chico & Rita."

Crayola allows tots to doodle on the iPad using its iMarker just as they would a crayon on a coloring book. Tweens are able to belt out their favorite Miley Cyrus and Selena Gomez tunes on a Disney microphone that turns the tablet into a karaoke machine. And technology accessories company Griffin enables teens to fly its toy helicopter by using the iPhone as a remote control.

This holiday season, toy makers have turned Apple Inc.'s pricey tablet and smartphone into playthings for kids. They figure in this weak economy, parents will be willing to splurge on toys for their children that utilize devices they already have — or want — themselves.

It'll be a busy shopping season at next month's Sundance Film Festival, whose star-studded premieres are up for grabs by potential theatrical distributors.

Some premieres usually enter the independent-film showcase with U.S. distribution already lined up. But festival director John Cooper said all the premieres that Sundance announced Monday will be looking for distributors.

Carrie Underwood's fans have come through for her again, giving her another win at The American Country Awards.

Underwood, last year's top winner with six awards, won female single of the year for "Mama's Song" on Monday night in Las Vegas.

Six weeks after revealing she has breast cancer, E! News host Giuliana Rancic says she will have a double mastectomy. The 37-year-old made the announcement Monday on NBC's "Today" show.

"It was not an easy decision but it was the best decision for me," she said.

With age come such things as catheters, colostomy bags and adult diapers. Now add another indignity to getting old — having to drop your pants and show these things to a complete stranger.

Two women in their 80s put the Transportation Security Administration on the defensive this week by going public about their embarrassment during screenings in a private room at Kennedy Airport. One claimed she was forced to lower her pants and underwear in front of an agent so that her back brace could be inspected. Another said agents made her pull down her waistband to show her colostomy bag.

More than three decades after launching, NASA's workhorse spacecraft is inching closer to leaving the solar system behind.

Currently 11 billion miles away from the sun, Voyager 1 has been exploring the fringes of the solar system since 2004. Scientists said Monday the spacecraft has entered a new region in the solar system that they have dubbed the "stagnation zone."

A United Nations-appointed expert is urging Vietnam's government to close down rehabilitation centers for drug users and sex workers following criticism of abuses by an international rights group, calling them "counterproductive."

Anand Grover, a special rapporteur for the U.N. Human Rights Council, said Monday at the end of a 10-day visit to Vietnam that the centers violate drug users' rights and are ineffective. He said the government should instead expand alternative treatments for drug users.

In a dramatic shift, British Olympic officials doubled the funding Monday to protect venues at the 2012 London Games, raising overall security costs to more than 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion).

Olympics minister Hugh Robertson insisted that the London Games remained financially on track — and within contingency planning. But the new figures are certain to become a sensitive issue in Britain, as tough economic times and bleak forecasts for the future raise questions about the wisdom of hosting the Olympics.

Scientists have found the biggest black holes known to exist — each one 10 billion times the size of our sun.

A team led by an astronomer at the University of California at Berkeley discovered the two gigantic black holes in clusters of galaxies 300 million light years away. That's relatively close on the galactic scale.